


One-shot collection

by maftuna1304_gx



Category: Blake Shelton (Musician), Shefani, The Voice (US) RPF
Genre: Blake with Gwen's kids, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24797095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maftuna1304_gx/pseuds/maftuna1304_gx
Summary: Pretty much an idea dump for fics that should exist but don't, open for suggestions and constructive criticism.1. Author’s note2. it’s Gwen’s time of the month and Blake comes from OK to cuddle.3. 5 times Adam almost found out and how he finally did4. Blake proposes!
Relationships: Adam Levine & Blake Shelton, Blake Shelton/Gwen Stefani
Comments: 17
Kudos: 52





	1. Author's Note

Hi! So I haven't published on AO3 ever, this is my first work, I've been reading fanfiction for a bunch of different fandoms for like three years and always felt too self-conscious to actually write anything and post it. I don't promise it'll be any good, but do you ever feel like there's a certain scenario that deserves to be written about but no one's done it yet so you gotta do it yourself? yeah that's me right now. English isn't my first language but it's the one I speak most often plus I'm nit-picky about grammar so I'm going to try to write well. If you have a prompt that you want me to write, please put it into the comments of this first chapter, I'll try to go through them. For this fandom specifically, I don't really like reading AU, idk it feels weird in my opinion, so I won't really be writing any. There's some super awesome authors on here who write beautiful AU for gwake/shefani so go check them out.

This is kind of what I have so far in my list of drabbles that I would want to write:  
-We've seen a few where blake has a migraine and Gwen is helping him through it, but what if it's the other way? Like Gwen is on her period and has stomach cramps/headaches and Blake becomes super protective of her and brings her chocolate and tea, that sort of thing.  
-The thing they keep mentioning in interviews, the day Gwen dragged Blake to the gym and as she's working out she gets a message with the demo for Nobody But You, kind of what was going through their minds and how that entire day went.  
-Blake and Gwen going on a walk through his giant property in Oklahoma to get away from the chaos of the kids while they're all in quarantine  
-Their yearly christmas cooking adventures.  
-Gwen going all mom-mode and protective after blake falls/gets hurt when he goes hunting on his ranch (or a general hunting day)  
-really short fics with a bunch of different kisses because i found this prompt list with all these adorable types of kisses/small scenarios that I want to write.  
-five times adam almost found out and the time he finally did.  


That's kind of all I have so far, and school only just ended for me and I might be moving soon so I don't know how fast I'll update (keep in mind that I'm new at this). If there's a specific prompt you want me to write first or you have any other prompts, please leave it in the comments.


	2. Gwen’s time of the month

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen isn't feeling too great and is trying to deal with her time of the month, Blake leaves his trip to the ranch to come comfort her.

"Hi babygirl, you up yet? I miss you", delivered, 9:37AM

Blake checks his phone for the fifth time in the last fifteen minutes, still in disbelief that Gwen isn't answering. She doesn't have her kids this week but she's still up at 6 every morning, 7 at most, making her coffee and doing whatever it is girls do in their 'girly time'. Gwen once told him she like to just take long baths and pray then go paint her nails or bake bread, but how much bread can a girl make? By 9 am, 8 in California, Gwen's supposed to be up by now, Blake murmurs under his breath despite trying not to think too much about it. She's probably fine, it's her first day off in a while and she deserves some time to sleep.

An hour later, the only notification to have come in was some fan on twitter who told him they didn't agree with the team he was rooting for this football season. By now Blake has sent another two texts Gwen's way, paranoid once he realized that the only other time she didn't answer for this long was when she had that nasty flu Zuma had brought home from school and she was too busy throwing up to check her phone. Blake, ever the gentleman though, made sure not to bombard her phone because what if she's fine and she just wants to sleep in? She doesn't need her phone going off every two minutes if all she wants is sleep.

Finally, twenty minutes after his minor freak out, he hears that all too-familiar ding he set specifically for texts from Gwen, as his phone lights up with "Hi babe, good morning :) gx". His chest falls down with a sigh for what feels like his first time breathing out that day now that he can relax knowing she's fine. Shoulda cherished that feeling, he tells himself, as another text comes through from Gwen a few seconds later: "Sorry I didn't answer, my head hurt too much to get up so I stayed in bed for a while, bad decision though because then I had to go find another clean sheet and throw mine in the wash. Good thing you're in Oklahoma, you don't want to see me like this :( ". Reading that made him fall back onto his tractor and want to shatter into a million pieces for her, how her self-esteem had been trampled so much that she was glad he wasn't there to see her when she wasn't feeling good, just because she thought she didn't look "pretty enough" or whatever she tells herself. Before he can dwell on that thought though, he sees another text from her, reading "I only just got to my phone though, I'm sorry I didn't answer for so long. I had to go run to the pharmacy, apparently I forgot to stock back up on tampons last time. Turns out I'm not the only one though, they didn't have the big pack I like to get so I don't have to go to the store every month so I got this little one that'll have to do for now" Halfway through reading the explanation from her and starting to already walk back towards the ranch, he sees a text from Gwen that has him sure of his next call: "Actually scratch what I said, I wish you were here Blakey. I want a hug. Or a longggg cuddle. Yeah now that I mentioned it I want to cuddle, that would probably help me get my mind off my stomachache and the fact that I forgot to grab Midol when I was at the pharmacy. How much work do you still have to do at the farm baby I want you here so bad gxoxo"

When he's gotten to that last gxoxo that makes him smile even after a year of reading her adorable little texts, his clumsy fingers can't dial the pilot quickly enough.

\---time skip, 4 hours later---

"Actually naw can you turn into that Walmart?  
Yeah you can just drop me off here, I'll be okay. Thanks"

With that, his Uber driver is off and he's walking down the hygiene product aisle with two bottles of Midol, the sunflowers he somehow manages to still keep alive from the garden he planted for her at the ranch, and a box of those chocolates Gwen could probably eat in one sitting — looking at all the tampons trying to figure out why on earth girls need so many different types of cotton sticks and especially why Gwen likes that one specific one that he just can't remember where to find.

After an awkward conversation with the lady who works at the Walmart, finally remembering which tampons to buy, a selfie with some fan that had to catch him when he looked like crap and probably still had mud on his jeans, and another Uber, he's punching in the code to the gate protecting Gwen's house from those crazy paps. She must have changed it after that big party she had with her friends, because he has to call her and ruin the surprise just to figure out how to get into her damn driveway. The "Hi babe, what's up? how are my wildflowers doing?" makes it so worth it in the end, hearing her sweet california accent and almost smelling the coffee she probably held in her hand stealing his attention from whatever grave of self-doubt and last minute regret he started to dig for himself in his mind.  
"Hi sweetheart"  
"Hey babe, sorry again for taking so long to reply in the morning, it was just a terrible start to my day off."  
While she was talking, he saw some delivery truck fly by and came up with a way to still try to keep some part of the surprise from her:  
"Gwen, honey, don't worry, stop apologizing seventy times for something you didn't get to choose to happen to ya. Listen, I was calling 'cause I asked this guy to deliver these flowers, I hoped they'd make ya feel better, but he says the code on the gate won't work. Did you change it after that party? I feel bad keeping the poor gu—"  
"Yeah I did! Did I forget to tell you? Oh yeah! I wanted to text you about it but you said you wouldn't be home 'til next week and I was gonna go pick you up at the airport myself so I thought I'd just show you the code myself and" the rest he doesn't hear as he's busy fawning over how adorable her rambling is. He makes sure she's done though so he doesn't interrupt with his  
"Uh-huh, yeah don't worry it's okay. Um, you still didn't tell me the code to tell the delivery guy sweetheart"  
"Oh, sorry! *that adorable giggle that Blake can never get enough of* It's 84987, I told Apollo to punch in random numbers because I've run out of things to use as my code, so I'm sticking with that for now. Gosh I feel like I'm rambling now Blake, am I rambling? My own talking is making my headache worse, I've probably given you a migraine by now."  
As soon as she's done with her self-deprecation, he replies with a quick "No babygirl don't worry about it. It's starting to rain though so I have to go get my stuff inside. I'll have to call you later. I love you" before turning his phone off and climbing the stairs on her porch to ring her doorbell. 

Knowing Gwen, he shouldn't be at all surprised to be waiting for three minutes now for her to get the door, since her "fashion-icon" self has to always look "dolled up" before going anywhere, so she's probably putting on her lipstick and doing whatever it is to her hair and changing out of her robe into those sexy jean shorts (that he thinks are way too short for anyone but him to be seeing) that she likes to throw on when she doesn't want to look for clothes to wear. After another minute according to his phone, hour according to Blake, there's finally the sound he's memorized by now of her footsteps approaching the door. Blake picks up his walmart bag, takes one last regretful looks over his muddy outfit that he didn't bother to change out of even though Gwen always makes an effort to look nice, and stands up to the door from the step he had sat down on after about two minutes of waiting.

Gwen's "Oh my god Blakeeeeeee" can be heard from the other side of the door and probably of the street as Blake remembers that Gwen always checks the peep-hole before opening the door. Finally seeing his tired but nevertheless drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend, he drops his bag on the floor and wraps his arms around his girlfriend's back to pick her up in what was supposed to be a quick peck on the lips. She seems to have other plans as her hands stay for half a second in a hug before jumping up to wrap her legs around his torso, her hands going to tug on his curls that she seems to be obsessed with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess that's a little longer than what's considered a drabble, maybe I should make this a collection of one-shots (knowing my inability to say things briefly and need to expand on anything I ever say).
> 
> If you have any notes to help me improve, like anything that you found seemed unrealistic or could have been worded better or the grammar/spelling was wrong, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. And if you have prompts you want fulfilled, I'm happy to write them. Otherwise, thank y'all so so much for reading and I really hope you like it!! Kudos and awesome comments fuel the writing monster by the way ;)


	3. 5 times Adam almost found out and the 1 time he finally did

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating for so long, I hope that the length of this chapter will make up for that. I'm pretty much posting six mini-fics in one.
> 
> And again, I'm so sorry this took so long.....I literally wrote about 1000 words that didn't get saved and like a good chunk of plot notes and am infuriated that it didn't save because so much research went into writing that part and i found the perfect way to word everything and none of it saved!!! I texted and ranted to just about everyone I know about how upset I am that it all got deleted. Y'all like I'm really upset and I hate it. In the third story, the dialogue between Adam and Blake is my best attempt to recreate what I had written before but honestly that other version was a masterpiece that I sadly won't be able to get back.
> 
> Eternally thankful to my girl Rachel for helping me edit this. (will tag her once she gets her AO3 account, for now she's just on Wattpad).

These are pretty much all on the set of the voice season 9, unless indicated otherwise.

—1—

Gwen's POV:

Carson just announced a fifteen minute break because the crew was having some trouble with whatever film jargon that I honestly didn't understand, so I took the opportunity to go touch up my makeup in my trailer. For the battles I was doing my own makeup, which made me so paranoid because all the other coaches had people instantly swarm to them to fix them up and it was up to me to measure up. I saw Blake get out of his chair at the beginning of the break, ignoring his little glam team heading his way. Everyone probably thought that was strange, as did I, but whatever — I had makeup to touch up so I headed to my trailer.

—few minutes later—

I turned around startled, not having heard anyone opening my trailer door. And yet, there was a soft "kiss me" whispered into my ear in my favourite country drawl.

"Holy shit Blake you scared me" I tried to start saying, before stopping because Blake just looked so broken. Hindsight's a bitch, Blake did seem kinda off this morning and he did turn me down on carpooling to work. Every instinct in me, especially my mom instinct, wants to just wrap him up in a hug and make him tell me what's wrong, but his hoarse little voice as he asked me to kiss him...I can't deny him that.

Screw my makeup. I gave him a little peck as I stood up from my chair to properly hug him but he took my face in both hands and pulled me up himself in what was definitely more than what I expected. He started doing the thing where he licks my bottom lip and tries to get me to let him in so he can kiss me even deeper. I'm so used to letting him because holy crap I'm making out with Blake Shelton, but I'm not liking where this is going.

"Blake we don't have that much time, are you sure you - " He didn't even let me finish — which I guess is my answer — because he took the opportunity to kiss me and bite my lip, while taking his hands off my jaw (which I missed right away) to grab my ass and pick me up, taking me to my couch. Seeing as I wouldn't get an answer out of him and he'll probably tell me what's up later tonight over some wine, at home where he can completely fall apart, I rolled with whatever it was he wanted to do here. I sat down with him on my trailer couch, nestling on his lap at first but seriously straddling him and starting to grind on him after about .2 seconds. Hey don't judge, I haven't gotten to kiss him in two weeks because he decided to spend the filming break in his ranch! Blake started kissing down my neck and I started moving my hair to the side to give him some space like I'd gotten used to doing. My hand bumped on the trailer wall as I tried to move my hair, which kind of brought me back to what's really happening. I’ve noticed that Blake gets rougher, more possessive, and likes to give me more hickeys when he's upset and honestly just needs to cry, and we're not doing that here. I came here to touch up my makeup and I'll have to work hard enough to redo my lipstick after this — I don't have the time to also hide a hickey. "Blakee” came out of me as a moan instead of a warning to stop, as he bit that one spot on my collarbone that he'd found a month ago and has kept going back to every time.

"Honey please let me have this, I really need —" He got interrupted by a knock on the door which could not have come at a worse time. I jumped off his lap so fast my legs went numb for a second as I tried to get the door, grabbing my lipstick on the way to try to cover up what we were doing.

"Hey open up! I saw Blake go in there, we gotta talk". Fuck Adam. He literally finds all the worst times to show up. I love the hell out of that guy but honestly? By this point I was panicked and I had no idea what to do because we _so_ sound like horny 15 year olds. Blake, ever so helpful, decided to shout "yeah I'm in here, the door's closed for a reason you dipshit." Now I can't ignore him! We _so_ sound like we were making out! So I kind of open the door on instinct, because my brain has yet to catch up to what I'm doing, still busy trying to figure out what's up with Blake. "Hi Adam! Sorry about that, what's up", I manage to say, peering out of the door making sure to not let him in. "Blake just seemed off today so I wanted to check in with him, but you guys seem busy" WOw I don't like how he sounded saying that and it literally sounds like he's accusing us of screwing in my trailer. "No! What? What do you mean by that? Uhm" I start on my rambling tangent which is so not helping. "Oh god yeah that came out wrong, I mean you seem like you're with Blake and I'm offended that he went to you not me to cry about whatever it is, but thanks. Just tell me if he's okay?" Phew. Adam's an oblivious idiot and Blake is so gonna hear from me (once he's feeling better) about starting make-outs in my trailer at work while everyone's around and could totally catch us.

—2—

Omniscient POV:

"Baby wake up" Gwen ignores him and rolls over to the other side, wrapping herself further in his giant flannel that she kind of stole from his closet last week. Now she used it as a pyjama shirt the nights that he wasn’t there, it still had his scent on it so it helped her fall asleep. "Come on honey wake up, I've got your coffee here and I haven't seen you in a few days, I wanna get to kiss those beautiful lips of yours for a while before we have to be on set."

That one got her. How was she supposed to resist him when he said stuff like that? So she reluctantly, still mostly asleep, rolled on her side toward him, then getting up onto her elbow to capture his lips in a kiss, because even lying down he was too tall for her to kiss just like that. He turned around quickly to make sure the coffee was securely on the nightstand and not about to spill on him, and pulled Gwen a little closer to him so he could kiss her properly. When she broke their kiss, he took the opportunity to slide his hand down her lower back and around to her hip, to give him enough of an angle to pull her up to straddle him, as he tried to sit up on the bed against the headboard. Gwen helped him out by getting up and planting herself firmly on his lap and went back to peppering kisses all over Blake's face and around his lips. She was definitely teasing him, until he licked her bottom lip and slid his tongue in her mouth, to tell her that he wasn't having any of that. Blake slowly moved to kiss up to her ear and down her throat, tucking some of her hair behind her ear in the process.

A few minutes of making out and two hickeys later, Gwen stopped them because she was not one to ever be late. Even with three crazy kids, she made sure to always be on time. She also wasn't going to explain to Carson that he had to entertain the crowd for an extra half hour because she got held up making out with her secret boyfriend. So, when Blake pulled back for some air, she slid off his lap, stood up (pulling him with her because she secretly wasn't ready to give up those kisses) and started reaching for her coffee. Eventually she slipped on a pair of ripped jeans and some sneakers, did the little bit of makeup she insisted she couldn't just go outside without even though Gregory would be doing her full look on set, and they drove to work.

Shift to Adam's POV:

Pharell, Carson and I sat on the couch chatting about how the knockouts had been going so far. Pharell was complaining about not being able to save enough people, and Carson replied with something that I was too distracted to understand. Gwen never came late, she's usually 15 minutes early at least but now it's 5 minutes until their official arrival time, admittedly still not even close to late, but come on where is she?

Hey guys can I join you there?" Damn it I didn't notice that country idiot enter. Don't get me wrong I love the hell out of that guy but teasing him is just too much fun.

"I don't know Blake, seems like the couch is busy bud" and of course, Pharell with his I-have-to-always-be-super-nice-to-everyone attitude, moved over and invited Blake to sit with him.

Then fucking finally, Gwen came in. And of course the queen of rock Gwen Stefani already had makeup on and her hair looked styled while all of us - especially Blake - looked like we just got out of bed, and of course fashion Icon Gwen Stefani hadn't even talked to her stylist today but was already wearing sneakers that matched the flannel shirt tucked into her jeans...wait hold the hell up flannel shirt?? Since when does Gwen wear flannel? I know she had some camo on her fashion line but a plaid shirt? And honestly she tucked it into her jeans and made it look all pretty that I honestly wouldn't have noticed had I not been staring like an idiot but what?

"Hey idiot you're staring like a 17 year old fangirl, plus you're married so quit checking out m— ...Gwen." Screw that damn cowboy. But wait was he just about to say my Gwen? I'm sure he started saying my but like no one else has noticed? Damn it this one way to start the morning, first Gwen walks in wearing a freaking plaid shirt that I swear I've seen somewhere and yet I'm just as sure she's never worn plaid, and Blake just called her his?

Technically if I ask Pharell he could confirm for me but I swear to God I've seen that damn flannel somewhere. Wow I honestly do sound like a 17 year old fangirl over-analyzing what she's wearing. But I gotta know!!

Yep, a full 3 hours later and I'm still thinking about that morning. Ooh! Maybe Blake didn't mean "My Gwen"! Maybe he meant like my girl or my crush or something? And maybe Gwen's wearing a flannel to try to copy his style to kind of say that she likes him? Ohhhh my God. This is crazy. *sigh* On the other hand though, it's a generic red plaid print that I could have seen at any store and on every fan when we toured down south. Because I mean that can't be right? Gwen liking Blake? and then Blake liking Gwen too? Okay if people thought I was distracted on set today I am so gonna be worse tomorrow because I am onto Blake and Gwen and I'm watching their vibe all show. Pharell probably sees it too right? It did seem like Blake addressed Gwen more than anyone else today on set right? and Gwen is laughing at all of his stupid jokes it seems...no one actually finds those funny! They're not! funny! But Blake's my best friend, he would tell me something like that! And yeah I'm married but I'm the rocker dude who has a crush on Gwen! I'm the one who's supposed to be crazy about her, not Blake! And he knows that, he wouldn't just betray me by liking the girl that I've liked way before him!

—3—

Gwen spending the whole performance staring at Blake...that's another tally right there. Thank God the show gives the coaches notepads while they're listening to the performances, and never has he been more thankful for it. Adam adds another tally to his list, making that five now for Gwen and three for Blake. To say he's distracted from the performances and comes up with something generic to say every time Carson calls on him would be an understatement. He's only listened when his favourite kids from his own team performed, and the rest of the time he's spent counting how many times he catches Gwen and Blake being idiots with crushes on each other that they're too scared to admit. Blake, understandably, because that's freaking-rock-goddess-Gwen-Stefani and you'd think he's way out of her league, which he technically should be and this isn't fair. But Gwen? Maybe she's waiting for Blake to make the first move? They're not even halfway through the taping for today and he's already caught them staring at each other that many times. 

"Hey dumbass you wanna stay after set and drink beer in my trailer? Bee has a shoot that's supposed to go late today" Adam asked on their mid-shoot break, taking the opportunity to go hangout at Blake's chair. And surprise surprise as he asks, Blake just happens to be staring at Gwen. 

"Hey lovestruck fool" 

"What?"

"Did you even hear what I said?"

"No sorry what was it? And what the hell did you just call me?"

"I asked if you wanna stay after set and get drunk in my trailer. Bee is gonna be at work late today so I'm going home to an empty house"

"Oh boo hoo I'm so sorry I wonder how that must feel"

"So is that a yes?"

"No Adam not today, we can hangout some other time. I don't feel like dealing with your idiotic ass today"

"Nooo come on Blake we haven't had our bro time in like a month, where the hell have you even been?"

"Adam I said I can't okay?"

"Why? Not like you have anything to do with your life anyway. What, you have a date tonight or something" And damn it, Adam catches on quick. To Adam, that phrase was just him teasing, something that came out naturally. Maybe also with a bit of curiosity or maybe even hope, because maybe he was hoping that he'd be right after all. To Blake on the other hand, that was just bad. Bad in every possible way because he was caught off guard and first he said no because he was just tired but now he remembered that he did in fact promise Gwen that he'd go to hers for dinner. And bad because she was headed his way and he had to deflect fast if he didn't want Adam onto him. And what bull's ass did he pull that crap out of? They had been so good at not kissing or being affectionate on set, how the hell did he even get the idea to ask him about that?

"Earth to Blake? The hell was that? You do have a date? You literally just spaced out on me completely when I asked why the hell you don't want to drink beer and chill in my trailer after work"

"Fuck you Adam no I don't have a date, I was trying to come up with an answer your peanut-sized brain would comprehend. Fine if you want to that bad I'll go have beer with you after set. Just give me fifteen minutes after we're done to call my driver and tell him I'm staying late."

"Hell yeah." Adam said out loud as he turned around to go back to his chair, and "I am so getting an answer about Gwen out of him today" under his breath to make sure Gwen wouldn't hear as he passed by her while she was headed toward Blake, already laughing at his stupid jokes.

\--about forty minutes later--

"That's it for today ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming today and let's say bye to our amazing coaches as they exit the set."

As soon as he was given the cue, Blake headed off set and straight to Gwen's trailer. She probably had a whole thing planned for dinner and his excuse sounded like such a cop-out that he prayed she wasn't in a bad mood already or he'd be going straight to hell in a handbasket. 

He had to stop on the way to use the bathroom, so she was already in her trailer taking her hair out by the time he got there. 

"Hi honey" he started, hoping she was in a good mood so she wouldn't be too annoyed at him for cancelling. She turned around with that damn gorgeous smile of hers and a "Hi Blakee, I just have to get my hair out and some comfy clothes on then I'll be ready" and there went Blake's hope that she had forgotten about the date, something he didn't even notice he was expecting her of but then realizing it was something he'd just gotten used to in his marriage.

"Hey Blake? What's up? Where's your stuff?" 

"Actually Gwen" and he didn't even get to finish before her face fell to something he promised himself he'd never make her do.

"Oh. Right uh yeah if you can't come that's fine uh, I'll..I'll" and he was madder than a wet hen at Adam for making him stay, but he also understood that he couldn't just cancel on her

"No babygirl I just, I'll still come for dinner, I just wanted to say that I'm going to have to stay a little later on set because Adam's being a jackass and insisting that we have our 'bro time' and I couldn't get out of it because he just asked why I couldn't stay and I kind of drew a blank?" 

Gwen drew her lips in an adorable little pout that he swore would be the end of him, but at least she wasn't so crushed anymore. 

"You better be home by nine cowboy or I might just not show you what your surprise was supposed to be" Gwen was such a tease and she knew it...and made sure to use it to her advantage as much as she could, especially when Blake couldn't do anything about it. 

"There was a surprise?"

"You bet there was and you better get your cute flustered smirk to my place soon instead of cheating on me with Adam Levine or Maroon 5 just might have to go hunt for a new lead singer"

"Gwen, honey, there is so much nonsense coming out of your mouth right now that I might just have to shut you up with a kiss", Blake mused right before moving his hands away from the dip in her back and up to cup her face, taking her in a kiss. Gwen reciprocated by grabbing his curls, which she'd found out a few nights ago made him make the most intoxicating sound. However when he licked the seam of her lips to ask for permission to take it further, she started to remember the last time they made out in her trailer, with Adam waiting, and how that ended. So, as much as she didn't want to go drive home alone after changing (she no longer had to finish taking her hair out because Blake's hands had done enough of messing up her hair for her), she pulled back from his lips and simply nuzzled into her chest. After about a minute of taking in his musky/woodsy smell, she whispered "Blake if I keep kissing you you'll have to explain to Adam why your lips are swollen and your shirt's all ruffled up, He's probably wondering where you are anyway. The faster you get done with him, the faster you can drive over to my place." With that, and a final peck on the lips, she sent Blake to Adam's trailer.

Blake knocked on Adam's door but entered without waiting for his friend's reply. Adam replied to his greeting already halfway opening his mini-fridge, to grab the promised beer. When he passed the beer to Blake, Blake almost took it from his buddy before seeing the label on the bottle which took him back to the night that him and Gwen were at the store and when he reached to buy that same brand of beer, she asked him to get any brand but that one and wouldn't explain what it was. After encouragement from Blake and lots of tears, Gwen revealed to him that when she was married, her ex would come home reeking of beer, much later than promised, and she had to work hard to make sure he wouldn't wake up the kids so they didn't have to see him like this. Apparently almost every time, she'd find a bottle of that same brand of beer somewhere in his bag when she'd be looking for the bottle of Advil she made him keep in there for instances like those. Seeing her break down so wholly and completely while recounting that story made Blake promise that he would never make her go back to how that scumbag made her feel. By that, he promised to himself that he would never keep her waiting when he promised to be there and especially not when he comes home smelling of beer, and he promised to try to stay away from alcohol as much as he can, especially that one specific brand of beer. Plus, he didn’t wan’t to risk upsetting her and having her change her mind on whatever the fucking surprise she was teasing him with was.

As he couldn't say all this to Adam yet, he played the divorce card: "Hey man you know what I'm not gonna drink, you're welcome to have as much as you want though." Before Adam could protest, he added "I'm trying to stay off alcohol recently, and drinking beer in your trailer just takes me back to when I'd sit here after set every god damn day drinking my face off and crying till I was too exhausted to function. I don't want to go back to that place."

Despite all the jabbing they do at each other and all the insults, Adam was one of the best friends Blake had and sometimes he'd actually show it, "Yeah dude I totally get it, good job for staying off the booze. Plus it's great if you're gonna be around her kids more." ...Yep, and there was his usual dumbass self because what the hell? Of course Blake obviously thought of Gwen's kids when he said that, but no one else knew about that. And especially not Adam. They'd been pretty good at hiding it on set, at least Blake thought so, and Adam had no way of knowing that he’d been trying to impress Gwen and be better for the kids. And if Adam didn’t know about this, then what the hell did that even mean? “Whose kids? What the hell?”

“I don’t know, I was just testing you to make sure you don’t have a secret girlfriend that you’re hiding from me. And, since you don’t, you should totally ask Gwen out.” 

“Gwen? Like that girl doesn’t have enough trauma from her divorce, she doesn’t need to deal with some hillbilly right now”

“No she’s so into you and you’re totally into her, you guys need to go out”

“She’s not, and we don’t”

“So then you admit that you like her!”

“You moron of course I do but so does every other guy who’s ever seen or heard her, you have a damn crush on her for pete’s sake”

“Yeah but for you it’s different because she’s actually obsessed with you too”

“What in the Sam Hill are you on about Adam? You sound like you’ve got a head full of stump water right now”

“I don’t even know what you’re saying right now Blake but you’re so doing the thing. You definitely like Gwen and you know she likes you back, you’re just too scared to ask her out” At least Adam still thought they weren’t together yet, Blake thought as he tried to deflect further:

“Adam, you idiot, I don’t hang out with you for a month and you sound crazier than a run-over cat trying to befriend the outhouse fly right now, do I really have to check in with you every day to make sure your roof’s still nailed tight?”

“Blake that makes absolutely no sense but you are most definitely doing the thing.”

“What in the fuck is ‘the thing’?” Blake asked, raising his voice extra high to imitate Adam.

“You’re talking super super country -”

Hoping to disrupt his train of thought by focusing on making him think he’s crazy, Blake interrupts with “Yeah no shit idiot I’m a country singer born and raised on a farm in Oklahoma how do you want me to sound?”

“Man just let me say it. I mean that you talk extra country and say all this weird stuff that makes no sense and you have these nervous ticks like you get fidgety and start looking everywhere but at me when you’re lying or trying to withdraw from the conversation for whatever other reason. Also you already used idiot, you’re running out of insults dimwit. And whenever I mention Gwen, you look super caught-off guard and look at the floor behind me instead of at me. What the hell is up with you two?” And there goes the question that he’d been hoping to avoid, thrown straight at his face. 

“Nothing, duh, what did you think? That rock-goddess, queen-of-every-other-genre ,Gwen Stefani, who has every other man falling at her feet, would go out with me? Yeah you’re funny”

“No you lame-o. And there’s no harm in trying, just ask her out!”

“Lame-o? What kind of useless California Slang is that? And ‘no harm in trying’?” he imitated, again using that super high voice that he used to make fun of Adam.

“No Blake I’m serious, on set today she was staring at you like every second that Carson wasn’t making her talk. And come on have some self esteem, or whatever the hell it is that girls are always saying to cheer each other on.”

“Come on, be realistic, can you imagine Gwen Stefani, sleeping with me out of everyone?” He asked, deflecting yet again, in this case to distract him from the fact that Blake knew he could only keep this up for so long before he said something else that he didn’t mean to because sleeping together? That was not supposed to come out of his mouth right there.

As he was on his mini monologue in his head, he barely heard Adam’s “hey uh Earth to Blake? Why do you keep zoning out on me today? You good bud?” And there was his opportunity to leave so he could leave and stop wasting his time with Adam, time that he could be spending with Gwen and whatever that damn surprise of hers was.

“Yeah I’m okay. Just tired I think. I better get going to be honest.” By the time Adam finished his reply that Blake didn’t exactly pay attention to, Blake’s hand was on his phone and he’d already gathered his stuff to get going. 

Once outside, Blake dialled his driver, praying he wouldn’t mind being called to work this late. He’d technically given him the day off because he was supposed to go with Gwen to her place after work, and he really hopes that he’s able to leave the set before Adam comes outside and offers to drop him off at his place.

—4—

Gwen’s POV

Blake warned me that Adam was as good as onto us and I wanted to not believe him, actually I didn’t right up until Adam ran up to me with an all too excited “Gwen is that a hickey? Oh my God it is! That is so a hickey! I knew it! Is it Blake? I was right all along”. I was in a pretty decent mood and on top of that layering the professional smile, I had done a pretty good job at staying happy but I just didn’t want to deal with Adam right now. At least not before I get to my trailer where my adorable boyfriend’s probably dropped off my coffee and breakfast from my favourite place like he insists on doing, even though I tell him that I can just get some from the catering the show orders.

So I tried to come up with a way to make him get off my and Blake’s case… Now, what’s the number one excuse every girl uses for a hickey? “No it’s a burn stupid, I have the kids this week and they wouldn’t let me curl my hair in peace, one of them broke something downstairs so I jerked and burned myself with the curling iron.” I was probably beet red by then and Blake says I suck at hiding it when I start panicking (though I’m pretty sure that’s just him being an ultra-perceptive sweetheart), so Adam not believing me was only my fault. “Huh, I didn’t know burns could turn that colour.” Now if he didn’t sound so amused, I’d say he sounds adorably innocent saying that. At least he chose something that’s easy to defend against though. “And what exactly would your bald head know about curling iron burns?”

“Yeah I still don’t believe you, and I am so gonna bully Blake about this” Damn it I don’t remember zoning out of the conversation, Blake’s supposed to be the expert at that, but when did we start talking about him? How is Adam so quick to connect Blake to my damn hickey? But as Blake told me, ignore and deflect is the best way to get Adam to forget it.

“Go home and ask Bee about curling iron burns you doof”

“Maybe I will”

Allowing me to not have to defend against Adam’s sassy reply, that loud speaker really is my saving grace: “Gwen Stefani please report to hair and makeup. Gwen Stefani to hair and makeup.”

Because I got berated by Levine before I could even get to my trailer though, I haven’t even gotten my dress alone let alone be ready for hair and makeup.

I shot Gregory a text telling him to stall for ten minutes while I get dressed, and headed off to find my stylist. Walking into wardrobe though, I realised that I had already gotten the dress tailored for me for today so I couldn’t really find a different dress. And the backup outfit I keep on set in case of emergencies has a neck that’s just as open because excuse me if I didn’t include ‘way too obvious hickey from Blake Shelton’ on the list of emergencies I’m prepared for. 

—Ten minutes pass, Gwen’s changed, Danilo quickly fixed her hair to at least hold up long enough until the first break, and she’s headed to makeup—

“Hey Gwen, you haven’t even started taping and you already look like you’ve had to deal with a load of shit today. What’s up?” Was it that obvious? I started to explain what happened with Adam but about halfway through he noticed my damn hickey and beat me to the point. Damn Blake Shelton and his obsession with leaving hickeys on me. “Will you please cover it up for me? My hair’s not even long enough anymore to hide my neck” 

“I don’t know Gwen, looks kinda cool don’t you think?”

“Come on just please cover it up. I’ll literally do anything to get you to use your magical makeup skills to cover this up because I don’t have the tools or time to find the right shade of concealer to hide it”

“Maybe if you tell me who the lucky guy is?”

“Oh please I’m the lucky girl to be honest. And no, we’re not telling anyone right now.”

“Ugh okay fine, I had to try. Come on sit down so we can erase this hickey for the next few hours. If you show up with more of these though, I’m not covering them up so be careful.”

As he worked his magic, I took the opportunity to text Behati asking her to please cover for me if her husband asked if curling iron burns can look like burns, promising to tell her the story later. And now that I made that promise and confirmed to Gregory that I’m with someone, we gotta either start telling people or Blake’s has to seriously tone it down with the hickeys.

—Post taping the show. Shift to Blake’s POV—

For some reason today, ever since whatever the hell it was that Adam said to her this morning, Gwen has seemed so off. She seemed a little upset with me, not completely mad but definitely not letting me be all affectionate like she usually lets me be. And she wouldn’t talk about it to me either, she just kept telling me to be careful because we’re at work and people could notice that something’s up. And something tells me that that something is Adam “dipshit” Levine.

The only thing that helps her usually when she’s upset at me or at no one in particular or really anything as long as it isn’t her scumbag ex-husband, is watching those stupid girly movies she has too many of. And yet somehow, every damn time, she goes and chooses The Sound of Music. Something about childhood memories or something, though by this point she’s watched it so many times I think the only memories associated with it are popcorn and her couch. 

I on the other hand, hate the movie, see no point to it, think it’s dumb, and don’t understand how she enjoys watching it more than once. I think I could probably recite it line by line by now.

Still, it helps her feel better and I can’t stand seeing her upset so of course right about now we’re sitting on her white sofa watching The Sound of Music with a bowl of popcorn and her legs draped over mine. That movie is so boring in my opinion, and she knows that, so at least she was kind enough to give me something else to focus my attention on while she watches her movie. I guess she wasn’t that mad at me though, because she wore shorts and made it a point to sit on the couch with her legs over mine, knowing that she’s teasing me like crazy with those long legs she knows I’m crazy about.

“Hey Blake?” I only really hear her because I see her face right in front of mine and I guess she’s probably been calling me for a while if she got up from her “super comfy corner of the couch” as she calls it. “Damn your distractingly gorgeous legs. What’s up honey?” She’s also paused her movie so I guess she must be serious about whatever it is. 

“Blakee we gotta talk” Aw fuck there it is. “You’ve gotta stop giving me hickeys all over” Yeah not at all what I thought she meant by ‘we gotta talk’.

“Now why the fuck would I do that?”

“At least not where people can see them? We’re trying to keep whatever this is quiet and away from crazy paparazzi eyes right?” Yes but that’s only her wish! I want to show off to the whole damn world that Gwen freaking Stefani decided to date me! Yeah yeah at the end of the day it’s to protect the kids at school and to not irritate that waste-of-oxygen ex of hers but I should be able to show off shouldn’t I?

“I thought you love it when I give you hickeys though, you even specifically asked me to mark you last night” Seeing her face go red as she folds into me trying to hide her embarrassed face was definitely worth that — risqué, as Gwen taught me to say — comment.

“Yeah, I guess I totally kind of did...but I don’t want people to start trying to figure out who I’m dating, if they see me walking around with hickeys”

“That’s not what you said last night sweetheart” And there’s that adorable embarrassed face of hers.

“Blakey just, please?”

“Come on Gwen where is this coming from? How come all of a sudden my beautiful baby girl who begged me to leave marks and show her just how mine she is last night wants me to stop completely?”

“Um, just, at work today, well, I —” I already know where this is going and I don’t like it.

“Was it Adam?” And there’s my answer. Gwen looked down at her bowl of popcorn and just took a big handful, doing anything but actually giving me a real answer. I freaking knew it and that idiot is going to pay. I should be able to give Gwen as many hickeys as I want and he doesn’t just get to make rules about my sex life, he’s alreayd annoying enough.

“Damn it I am going to kill that bastard”

I’m pretty sure Gwen started to say a “no he just …” But I was too busy going to get my phone, that shithead was about to get an earful from me about making rules about crap he doesn’t deserve to know. Gwen called after me with a “Blakey don’t” in the softest voice and that almost had me change my mind, almost, until I realized that if I went and kissed her right now...that’s all I would get to do. And Adam dumbass Levine is literally the one person at fault for that. 

“Blake if you text him about it he’ll just be even more.” Let him be, I don’t care. As long as I can do what I want to with my girl at night, I’m fine with it. Honestly I probably would have gone and found my phone by then but Gwen came around to block me and put her hands on my chest in this calming thing she does and how am I supposed to resist? She just looks too sweet doing it!

“I told him that I have the kids this week, he would have even more questions and he’d totally see through my lie if he found out that you were over here.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “God I hate that idiot” 

“What if I make a deal?” If I get to behead Adam, I’m in. “You calm down and don’t say anything to Adam and I’ll let you mark me all you want, just as long as I can cover it with the dress I’m supposed to wear tomorrow.”

“Gwen I don’t know what you’re wearing tomorrow because you’re too stubborn about keeping it a surprise. Knowing you though, it’s probably something open and flashy to torment me all day on set, which leaves like zero covered space for me to put hickeys on that gorgeous body of yours.”

“Okay...Let me text my stylist real quick and switch the outfit I chose for tomorrow. That way, you get no fun tomorrow because everything’s covered up but you can give me all the hickeys — and bruises and anything else you want — right up to my neck and down to my ankles okay?” Now that’s just unfair, she’s having way too much fun teasing me with this!! I mean did she have to mention that she was up for bruises and whatnot tonight? But then she’s cancelling those damn sexy fishnets and whatever beautiful dress she had planned for tomorrow?

“Babygirl that’s unfair, I shouldn’t have said that, and you can’t just tease me like that. I apologize, can I take that back? I love your skimpy little things that you call complete outfits. This isn’t fair Gwen”

“Your choice Blake Shelton.”

—5—

My shirt on the floor of the stairs and Gwen’s somewhere beside the bed, with my hands pinning her to a wall and hers in my hair, I was enjoying my week off from filming more than I would like to admit. We were also at my LA rental, so no one could find us — especially not Gwen’s ex who liked to show up at all the worst times. And yet somehow still, there was a knock on the front door and an annoying tune of a doorbell coming from downstairs. It surprised and scared Gwen so much she practically jumped out of my hold and curled up into me for protection. “Who even knows the address to this place?” 

Who the hell even has the address to this place other than ‘randa and Adam? She had no business being here and frankly neither did Adam...he said something about a dinner with Bee tonight did he not?

Yet to his utter discontent, there was his shit-eating grin with a bag of takeout and a six pack when I opened the door. 

“Hey Blake! I got takeout! Wait why are you just doing up your shirt and why’s it all scrunched up like that?” My shirt? Really? That’s the thing he starts with?

“Dude why are you even here? It’s night time and wasn’t Bee supposed to get home from her fashion show today? You wouldn’t shut up last week on set about the damn dinner you were gonna take her for.”

“Wow, nice to see you too Blake. Her flight got delayed because of some storm on her end so I’m all lonely and excuse me for thinking that my best friend would happily welcome me when I’m lonely at home but it seems like he’s busy right now.” No shit I’m busy, it’s the first time in ages that Gwen and I both get time off and her kids are with their dad.

“Fucking duh I’m busy and I’ve already had dinner, I don’t want takeout right now. Can we hang tomorrow or something? Or like any time that isn’t now?” If Adam doesn’t leave soon Gwen might just come down to see what’s taking me so long and no way is this son of a bitch finding Gwen half-naked in my house.

“Why are you in such a rush to get me out of here anyway? What, you have a girl in here or something?” How did he always know what I’m doing? Technically he was probably joking judging by the grin on his face but still, how does he just keep guessing this stuff and why couldn’t he have guessed it before he showed up at my door?

“Oh my god you doo!! You didn’t answer my question and trailed off in thought. You totally do!” And that asshole decides to put all the stuff in his hands into mine and try to bolt up the stairs to my bedroom, like I’m not annoyed enough at him already. Thank god for his short legs and lack of strength whatsoever (that fake stuff that he carefully builds at the gym doesn’t count, I mean real muscle from working), it makes him that much easier to grab by the arm because there ain’t no way he’s going up there.

“Wait Blake you literally don’t smell of alcohol, like at all. Where’d you even find this girl?”

“Adam now that you know that I actually am busy would you just get the hell out of my house?”

“Fine but I’m taking my takeout, and my beer, with me.” Like I care about his damn takeout when I have Gwen waiting for me upstairs.

So I watched Adam leave, probably more enthusiastic than I’ve ever been to see him go, and that idiot stopped at my shoe rack. My shoe rack? Really? Ah crap no Gwen’s damn bright green sneakers are on it and she’ll have to never wear those again if we don’t want him finding out. As much as I love to tease him, he does a memory a little better than that of a peanut. “Adam get going and stop staring at my shoe rack.”

“No but I recognize these sneakers from somewhere and you’re too much of a giant to wear these.”

“Get out will you?”

—1—

Blake is dating someone and I know it. I’m also pretty sure about who that someone is, they’re not exactly great at hiding it. At least from me, it seems. Because every time I ask Pharell or Carson, they just deny it! I’m not the only one seeing it right!! And last week when I actually wanted my best friend to hang out with me, he was with a girl...one he didn’t meet in a bar. And where does one get a girl if he didn’t meet her at a bar? It’s his girlfriend. Duh. I’ve even been watching to see if Gwen would wear those shoes I saw at Blake’s, and I am like 99% sure they were hers, but she hasn’t worn them since so I might be wrong. But then if I am it’s weird that he’s like so obsessed with her if she’s not his girl. At the same time though, Gwen dating Blake? I love the guy to death and he’s awesome but he is _so_ out of her league. Very, very very far out of her league. Then again so was that excuse of a husband she had before so maybe he does have a chance? Either way, I’m finding out today.

He usually likes to focus on the show so he leaves his phone with his assistant when he goes off stage, and I’m taking full advantage of that. Carson just announced a break so Blake got out of his seat to go stand in front of Gwen and Pharell’s chairs, and I’m pretending to go for a bathroom break and left in search of his assistant. If it were anyone else, his crew would probably not give me his phone but thank god they know me well enough, so when I said Blake sent me to get his phone for him they just let me have it. 

Honestly I don’t even know where to look, but maybe he has something useful in his messages to Gwen or his camera roll or something. Just looking through the notifications, I don’t see anything yet but he’s not stupid, he knows that anyone can see the notifications without opening his phone so he probably knew not to leave anything worth finding there. 

What was his password? He told me what it was before because I had to confiscate his phone around the end of his marriage, when he was crying and would get drunk too often. Then I’d have to scroll through it to make sure he’s not texting his ex, and he knew that so he would periodically update me when he changed his password. I know it’s not his birthday, that’s too obvious….Betty! That’s his dog, not too many of the crew would think of it, I think that’s what it was last time he told me. As he always does with his passwords, I took the keypad and entered each letter corresponding to Betty, but it declined. So I try again, but I don’t want to get locked out for long enough for him to notice his phone’s been locked. He also technically hasn’t updated me on his password in months since he’s doing so much better recently (all the more reason to think that he’s dating someone!!), so chances are his password has changed. If he changed it recently, I think I know the one thing he could change it to that no one would guess: Gwen. I pull up the password screen again and type in the numbers corresponding to her name: 4936 and holy shit it worked and I was so right. What’s even better though, better than the confirmation that he’s definitely obsessed with her because his phone password is literally her name, is his home screen. His lockscreen is a picture of his lake from his ranch, because that’s what anyone sees when they pick up his phone, but once you unlock it...that’s where the treasure’s at. I mean look at this photo!!

**__ **

If I confront them about it though, they’re so going to deny it, or maybe be upset, so you bet I’m saving this proof right now. Screenshot...Airdrop to my own phone...Then delete the screenshot from his camera roll…..oh my god there’s even more selfies in here and my eyes hurt right now because I really didn’t need to see them fully making out...and now that the screenshot is deleted I should probably get the phone back to his team before he finds out.

—After the show’s taping is over—

As Blake, Gwen, and I are sitting on the couches in the compound once pretty much everyone’s left, it’s so much easier to see that they’re definitely together. Gwen’s way too comfortable around Blake and he’s like snuggled into her, with her one hand rubbing his shoulder and the other like, petting his hair? Which also reminds me that I gotta bring this up with them. The only way that I can think of doing it, without having to find a way to say it out loud, is sharing with them that picture I have, so… groupchat time?

I send them both, on the same chat, just the picture and seeing their faces go completely blank as they both pick up their phones is honestly the most priceless thing. They immediately scoot to opposite ends of the couch, both of them are completely pale at first….that is right before they glare at each other then get up and go back to their phones.

I’m guessing they may or may not have been texting about how to kill me, because next thing I know I’m being dragged into Gwen’s trailer by Blake, with Gwen following suit. 

“What the hell? How do you even have this?”

“You asshole did you go snoopin’ through my phone? I changed my damn password on purpose so you wouldn’t see it?”

Did I say they would both be upset?

“It’s not like you made it hard to guess. And you guys aren’t too great at hiding it from me, fyi. Do you guys want to like explain or something? Maybe Blake, how come you manage to get the one girl every rock kid is obsessed with, to go out with your hillbilly ass, and you don’t tell me?”

“Hey come on no I actually really like him, I literally even have a song out called Simple Kind of Life, and Blake just fits that! And we kind of bonded over our divorces, he would let me cry on his lap for hours over Gavin and he’d curl up on my couch while he cried about Miranda, because we kinda just got each other you know? And then eventually we got from emailing to texting to spending nights at each other’s place and I noticed that I kinda love this cowboy.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I did the southern idioms justice? And y'all look, some people on this site, like @xxfluorescent , are incredible at writing snippets of internal monologue in between verses of dialogue. I am not one of those people. I'm learning, but I'm very much not there yet so I apologize for the giant bulks of just people talking and nothing else happening. 
> 
> The last story, I know it's not great, like at all, but I really wanted to just publish this story. Maybe I'll go back and change how I write the last story at some point, but the plot is the same.
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated and if you have a prompt you want me to write, drop it down below :)


	4. Blake proposes!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's for @Shefani4Life , sorry it took me forever to get this out, I hope it's worth it?
> 
> And shoutout to @riya_ku12 on twitter for getting me to have the motivation to actually write this thing. I had about 500 words done and sitting there for like two weeks, then today I sat down and just like, wrote all the rest of it because I felt like I knew someone would actually read. 
> 
> I also didn't get to edit too much because I just wanted to post it, so I hope it isn't riddled with mistakes.
> 
> Anyway, hope y'all enjoy?

Todd tosses him another beer as they sit around the campfire, the rest of the family already having turned in for the night. He thanks him for the bottle, deciding it’s time to finally put this idea out into the universe:

“Hey Todd, you mind if I ask for your advice on something? I’ve kind of been toying with this for a while now, or, not toying I guess. Because it’s serious and that’s such a bad way to put it, oh my god I already am making a fool of myself and this is not going well.” He is not a man to stutter, especially with all that stage and TV experience, but that girl just brings shit out in him, like stuttering when he’s super nervous apparently.

“Breathe Shelton. What is it you’re trying to say? You know you can’t just start with that and then not tell me what’s going on. What are you, pregnant? Dying? Engaged? What’s so big of a deal that Mr Blake Shelton, dude who performs all around the world and is on tv all the time, is stuttering?

“Well uh, you were close I guess? I’ve had all this time in quarantine to be with Gwen and you and the whole family, and it’s got me thinking. Gwen and I have to leave in a bit to LA to tape the voice, so once we get out of here I’m thinking of proposing to Gwen.”

“Oh my god Blake! Hell yes!”

“Shut your mouth Todd I haven’t even told anyone else yet and you have got to keep it down before others find out. What if Gwen were to come walking out right now? You know her, she hears an oh my god and she’s got to know what’s going on. Anyway, so you’re okay with it?” Dumb question, from his reaction of course he’s okay with it. And who even is he to object? Technically he shouldn’t have a say, but Blake knows that out of any of her siblings, Todd is the one Gwen is closest to so his approval actually means much more than others would think.

“Yeah yeah of course I’m okay with it! And wow I’m honoured that I’m the first one you’re telling. But you better start telling some other people, like Jen, cuz I can’t just keep this all to myself, I might just explode.”

“Thanks buddy, I’m glad I have your approval”

“You have any idea how or when you’re going to propose though?” 

“Not yet, I just know I’ll do it once we get out of here. I’m talking to some people up at the voice so maybe I’ll do something with their help. Who knows though.”

“Hey boys come inside it’s getting chilly! And Blake I’m not about to deal with your mosquito bites all night” Speaking of Gwen, there she is being all adorable and caring. She’s right though, these mosquito bites can honestly be a bitch. 

—————————

For breakfast the next day, the family has all kinds of sandwiches with what Blake’s been growing on his farm and the bread that Gwen’s been spending quarantine learning how to bake. Having received Todd’s approval, Blake has spent all night and this whole morning thinking about this proposal. Whom else to tell or ask, how exactly he’s planning to propose, the ring, so many questions that have flooded his brain. 

Todd said he should tell Jen, but this isn’t really about telling people, it’s more that Blake felt like he had to get Gwen’s family’s permission and make sure that they were okay with it. He thinks about all those times that Gwen talked about how her family never liked her ex, how they would tell her from the beginning that he wasn’t good for her, and he really didn’t want to be on that same track. Okay, so he decided that he probably should ask Jen since she’s the one Gwen talks to the most about all their girly stuff, and also her kids. That would be a tough one, technically yes her kids seemed to like him but asking these kids about marrying their mom? And especially without her seeing? His girl was one great mother, and she never let those kids out of sight. Not unless she was in the studio or he took them on a trip that she didn’t like, which might just be what he’d have to do. 

“Hey Blakey? You’ve been quiet all morning, what’re you thinking about?” Has he really been silent through the whole morning though? He notices that he must’ve been, and he has to cover it up quick if he doesn’t want people to start guessing what’s up.

“Yeah, I was just thinking, would it be okay if King and I went on a fishing trip for the day? Luke’s been saying that he’s had a great fishing season this year. King you in?” The way that that boy’s face lit up was everything, and Blake silently hopes that he’ll get that same reaction in a few hours. That is, if he manages to muster up the courage to even ask him.

“Hey Blake no fair, I wanna come! How come King gets to go fishing with you and I don’t?” That little boy is the most energetic little kid, and so far Blake has had the strongest connection with him out of all her boys. Zuma had been the first to accept Blake into the family, and Blake thinks that (hopefully) he’ll be the easiest to get to agree to his mom marrying Blake.

“I promise little buddy, I’ll take you one day, but you’re a ball of energy and today seems like a calm day on the lake so for now I’m just going with your brother, is that okay? Maybe once your arm heals we can go ride the jet skis on the lake” Blake hates saying no to any of Gwen’s kids, but the way that boy’s face fell almost makes him reconsider. At the end of the day though, Blake really wants to ask each of them one by one without the others pushing them into anything, so Zuma would have to wait.

“Hey I never said anything and you guys are already making all these plans” Gwen is so adorable when she tries to use her serious mom voice on Blake, but it doesn’t work and Blake sees right through it. 

Just in case she needs some convincing though, Blake stands up from his spot at the table to go to her chair and lean over it to her ear. In a purposefully sultry and lower voice, he whispers, “Gwen just let me have this and I promise I’ll take you on a different kind of trip tonight,” and leaves a little kiss on that spot on her collarbone.

Gwen’s reaction is just what he intended, as she moves her head away from him, flustered as her whole family watches, and forces out a “Yeah, sure, enjoy fishing. And Blake Shelton we’re at breakfast for God’s sake!” If she sounds mad, she makes sure to clarify back in his ear, “because that means I have to wait a whole entire day and that’s not fair Blakey.” He can’t see her face but he hears the pout in her voice, turning on his heel to head back to his seat.

“So King, we leave right after breakfast okay?” 

Kingston mutters a small “yeah of course,” but he looks still too busy annoyed about Gwen and Blake’s PDA.

Receiving Gwen’s mom’s permission, he evades his chores of cleaning up after breakfast to go get the fishing gear in order, coming back to pick up King once he’s got his coat.

After about an hour of leaving the ranch, somewhere on the open lake, Blake decides to start doing what he’s ultimately here to do. Before he can start though, King seems to have a similar thought as he asks, 

“Hey Blake? I love fishing and stuff but um why did you just choose to get me out on the lake randomly?” He might have thought that he was ready to start the conversation, but Kingston putting him on the spot like that started to make him question everything. He had a clean streak of not lying to the kids though, so he pushed through all the insecurities and finally started the spiel he rehearsed about forty times in his head so far. 

“Well uh, King, I just wanted some alone time with you because there were some things that I really needed to talk to you about, without your mom or your brothers.” King waited patiently, and for the rocker outside that he puts on for his friends, King was the sweetest most patient kid. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself, realizing that BLake needs to get this out, and for that Blake was so thankful. Gwen really had raised these kids so well. Taking another breath, Blake continues:

“You know that your mom and I really love each other, and that I’ve said so many times that I want to spend my whole life showing her how incredible she is. We’ve had all this time in this freaking quarantine to be cooped up together, and it’s given me so much time to think about everything. And I’ve had more time with you and your brothers too, and I love you all, you know that. Having said all that, I was thinking of maybe, once we get out of here, if you and your brothers are okay with it, asking your momma to spend the rest of her life with me? Like proposing to her?” King seemed to know where this was going, and Blake is so thankful that his face lights up as Blake finished his speech.

“Yeah of course I’m okay with it! I promise I won’t tell mom before. You’re so awesome for mom, Zuma and Apollo and I actually talked about this a couple of times.” That one surprises Blake and makes his heart melt just a little, but he continues to listen to what King has to say before he has time to dwell on that. “Mom smiles so much more with you and because of you than she ever has before. I mean I love my dad to the moon and back and he’s the greatest dad in the world, but you’re the one that I think should be with my mom. I always act like it’s gross,” his voice goes quiet as he continues, maybe a little embarrassed, or just vulnerable, “but you’re always complimenting my mom and making her blush and it’s actually like really sweet. I love my mom so much, and you know that I didn’t really like you at first as her boyfriend because I was sad that my parents were getting a divorce and I felt like you were trying to replace my dad. But, you’re like my step-dad now and it’s actually really cool. At first when I acted like I didn’t like you being with my mom, I guess some of it was because I saw how happy she was, and she’s never that happy with my dad. I was only like 9 years old and I didn’t know anything about love, but I always heard my mom and dad fighting. And dad never did what you do with my mom, she’s always smiling around you and you’re always helping her and making her blush and like today at breakfast! It was completely gross, but it was also super cute and that’s kind of why I didn’t answer right away, I was just thinking about how crazy all of this is. Like, we’re in a cowboy ranch in Oklahoma! I kind of used to miss my mom and dad being together sometimes, but my mom is so much happier with you. And if you married her then I guess you would officially be my step-dad, which is kind of cool I think!”

“Come here.” Blake was struggling so hard not to start crying in front of King, but it really wasn’t working. So, he hugs him so that he at least doesn’t see his face as a few tears escape at his words. 

“I have a question though, didn’t mom say that she needed all that stuff from the church to be done before you guys could get married?”

“King, you know about that?”

“Yeah! Mom was talking about that at some point, because she said all the stuff was done but she just couldn’t get that one official paper and she was stressed out about it because she said that it was so annoying that she couldn’t marry you and that dad was still controlling this part of her life.” King’s voice broke on that last clause, and Blake guesses that it must be because admitting that about his dad must not be easy on the little fella. 

“Actually uh, can I tell you something else? But you’ve gotta promise not to tell your momma or anyone else in the family okay? Because she might just kill me if she finds out.” King nods his head yes, anticipating what it is that Blake has to say.

“Well, I called the church and made some arrangements a few days ago. All the rest of the stuff, the things that actually have to do with religion, they kept your mom in the loop, but that last file of paperwork that she’s supposed to sign, I asked them to send it to me instead and not tell her anything about it. I think that it would help me keep the proposal a surprise, and if she says yes then she can sign it there and we’ll send it back to the church then. But promise not to tell her about it?”

“Yeah Blake, I promise. I won’t say anything.”

“Thanks buddy.”

Blake spends the rest of the day on the lake thinking and planning, while still trying to process all that Kingston told him. The kids talk about him? And the stuff with the church is something that Gwen actually frets about? Does that mean that she would definitely say yes if he asks?

Once they’ve caught enough fish for a small barbecue for dinner, they start heading back to the ranch. 

As they’re parking the boat in the dock, he sees Gwen already waiting for him. Getting out of the boat, he asks King to go put the fishing rods and the rest of the equipment back in its place, and go head inside. This gives him some private time with Gwen on the dock, which he’s quick to use as its rare to have alone time these days. 

Right as he steps out onto solid ground, Gwen runs up to Blake and kisses all the air out of him. Blake chuckles at how much she’s missed him in just a few hours, but proceeds to return the kiss, knowing he has another few hours before he can properly make out with her in bed. 

“Hey Blake what was that you promised about a trip?” Gwen whispers into his ear, kissing up to it and nibbling on his earlobe.

“Gwen come on this isn’t fair, I have to go bring the fish inside in front of everyone and I can’t walk in there with a boner,” Blake breathes out, finally getting to talk since Gwen’s mouth is busy giving him a hickey. Thankfully they at least wouldn’t have to hide it, since the whole family had just gotten to ignoring all the hickeys on them both.

“Retaliation Blake. You can’t just tease me like that at breakfast in front of everyone and then leave for hours to go fishing.”

“At least you can hide it,” Blake moaned as Gwen sucked on his clavicle, moving up to shut him up in another kiss.

“Hey lovebirds get off each other and hurry up so I can skin the fish, preferably before we all die of hunger?” 

Gwen turned around to make sure her kids weren’t watching, and flipped a bird at her brother before going back to making out with her boyfriend.

  
  


——————

Jen is helping him barbecue the fish, which Blake decides is the perfect opportunity to ask her what she thinks:

“Hey Jen, out of the whole family you’re like the one Gwen talks to right?” Jen laughs at that, as Blake prays it isn’t because he said the wrong thing.

“Yeah pretty much. Why, you wanna know what your girlfriend’s saying about you?”

“Well, uh, thank god Todd kept his promise not to tell I guess.” And Blake is so bluffing at this point, because somehow come time to actually ask, Jen became way more intimidating. After all, of everyone, even more than the kids, Jen was the one who ultimately knew what Gwen’s answer would be. 

“So cowboy, what is it? And thanks for telling because I am so gonna kill Todd for keeping whatever it is from me”

“No! Uh, I made him stay quiet. Well, you know how in two weeks we’re supposed to leave to LA to go film the voice? I was kind of thinking of proposing to Gwen on the show. And you’re the one who knows her best, do you think she would be okay with that”

There’s a reason Todd and Jen are together, because they’re the exact same person. To Blake’s annoyance, Jen reacts the same way her husband did:

“OH my god! Yeah! Hell yes! Woah that’s so cool!”

“My God damn it keep it down before Gwen comes here asking what’s going on.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. Um, of course she would say yes. She’s literally been talking about marrying you for like forever. Well, more like since quarantine started. Before that she was just scared of trusting someone and she felt like what happened last time would happen again and she was scared to rock the boat. But she said yesterday that in quarantine she’s seen how much the family likes you too, which has been kind of her confirmation because oh boy, you probably know what happened last time she tried to get married. The whole family was against it, it was a disaster. But you should probably get Dennis and Patti’s okay, that’s pretty important to her.”

“Actually last week I talked to them about it, they’re on board. They seem to be pretty happy about it, I think?”

“Shit this fish is gonna burn.” Blake rushes to flip the fish, mentally checking off one of the biggest check-boxes when it came to planning this proposal. Seeing that the fish was pretty much ready to take off the grill, Jen goes inside to grab a plate, leaving Blake alone with his thoughts.

——————

A week later, once Zuma’s arm is finally out of a cast and he feels comfortable enough to use it, Blake uses the opportunity of a free day to get Zuma alone for a while.

Like he did with King, he starts the day by asking Gwen to take her son for the day. While cleaning up after breakfast, he walks up and hugs Gwen from the back, while she’s doing the dishes. Still tired from the night before, she leans her head on his chest and relaxes there for a second before going back to the dishes. He gives her a soft kiss on the neck before whispering, “Hey is it okay if I take Zuma out on the fourwheelers today? He’s been bugging me since I went fishing without him.” 

Gwen quickly agreed since she didn’t really have other plans for the boys that day, though Blake could hear the disappointment in her voice. Unable to stand hearing that disappointment, he added in, “You sound disappointed, how about once I get back with Zuma you and I can go take the horses for a ride through the fields? No one will see us that far out, we can have some time alone to hang out, without the family?” 

That seemed to cheer up Gwen, as she replied with “Yay okay, then yeah go ahead take Zuma do whatever, just get back faster?”

Smiling to himself about how cute Gwen was when she was excited, especially about something that she used to refer to as “cowboy stuff that I don’t do”, he leaves to go find Zuma who had already gone to his cabin, having finished clearing the table after breakfast. 

  
  


Just as Blake guessed, he finds Zuma on his ipad in his cabin, with Kingston bugging him to make a tiktok. 

“Hey y’all! Zuma, what do you say we take the fourwheelers out for a drive today?” Blake sees Kingston take a breath as if to say something, probably to ask to go with them, but he stays quiet as he realizes what this is probably about. Instead, he just says “Have fun guys.”

On their way to the garage tog et the fourwheelers, Zuma asks, “Hey how come we’re not taking King?”

Blake considers just telling him right now, but decides to drive around a bit first and ask once they’re calmer out in the woods, so he sticks with “Well I owe you a trip don’t I?”

The little boy laughs and nods a “yeah I guess so. I don’t know how you convinced my mom to let me go though, she’s been sooo overprotective about my arm.”

Blake thinks about how to answer that, because if this were king then he might have told him about the conversation in the kitchen in the morning and the one last week for her to say yes to take King fishing. Since Zuma is still a small and innocent child, Blake decides to keep it that way and just responds with a “well I have my ways.” Though thinking about the reasons why she’s been ‘overprotective’, as Zuma called it, he adds “but we have to make sure nothing happens to your arm or your mom’s gonna –” he stops himself before saying “kick me out of the bed tonight” and settles on “get really upset” to finish his sentence.

By this point they reach the garage and get the fourwheelers out. He lets Zuma decide which way to steer, and by this point Gwen’s sons know his ranch well enough to know how not to get lost around the property. 

Once they’re on the other side of his plot of land from where the house is, he decides to take a break to talk to Zuma, who’s busy watching the fish in the pond. 

“Hey little buddy can we talk?” Maybe he shouldn’t have chosen those words exactly, because Zuma slumped down and walked up to him, as if expecting him to scold him or something.

“Yeah uh, did I do something wrong? Sorry if I did” Yep, Blake mentally kicks himself for definitely choosing the wrong words.

“No no I just phrased that weirdly. You’re fine. I just had something that I needed to ask you about, to make sure you were okay with it. I already talked to your big brother, that’s why I took him fishing all alone last week.” That seems to ease the tension, as Zuma’s smile returns and he now seems curious.

“Oh that’s cool I guess. What’s up?”

“Well, you know how your momma and I really love each other, and I’ve told you all that I’m gonna do my very best to make sure that it stays that way forever? Well I would like to maybe, once we’re back in LA, ask your momma to marry me? But I have to check with you three first, because I know that she wouldn’t agree to do something like that if you weren’t okay with it.” That one went a bit better than the time with King, at least he wasn’t rambling. Then again, he also tried to simplify what he was saying so Zuma would understand.

“Are you kidding? Of course yes! That’s so cool! Are you guys gonna do like a big wedding? Can I come?”

“Woah you’re getting way ahead of me there. Yeah I guess if your momma says yes to me then we would have a wedding, and of course you’re gonna be there, you really think I wouldn’t bring you along li’l bud?” Finally managing to lighten the mood, Blake takes the opportunity to tickle Zuma until they’re both laughing like crazy. 

Once Zuma escapes Blake’s grip, he shouts a quick “race ya home! Last one to the garage is a rotten egg” before speeding off on his fourwheeler. Blake realized that he probably didn’t hear him, when he called after him with a “hey no be careful we don’t need your arm in another cast. Zum’ wait up!”

When he got back to the garage, he couldn’t find Zuma anywhere, but his four-wheeler was parked in its spot. Instead, he’s met with a fake-angry Gwen standing in front of the garage with her arms on her hips and an angry face that she isn’t pulling off too well. 

When he’s close enough to hear what she’s saying over the engine, she says “Hey why is my son driving back here alone? I thought the rule was that if they ride the fourwheelers you’re supposed to be beside them the whole time?”

“Hey he just yelled ‘race ya home’ and drove off, he didn’t even hear when I told him to hold up.”

“It’s fine, I’m messing with you. I already talked to him about it, and come on Blakey I know my kids. I know that if Zuma’s excited, no one can stop that little ball of energy. Now someone promised me a trip on Halo…”

“I’m hungry, can we get some food first?”

“You know, I’m hungry too but I kind of feel like dessert rather than food, if that’s okay?” Gwen asked, her voice going down an octave and her hands coming up to wrap around Blake’s neck. She uses the moment of him being flustered caught off guard to jump up to lock her ankles around his waist and give her a good angle to kiss her boyfriend.

“If you hop off and let me walk to our cabin then maybe” Blake responded, laughing, before returning the kiss. 

——————

The next morning, Blake wakes up before the rest of the family to check on the animals and do some farmwork as he does whenever Gwen actually lets him leave the bed, and starts to head to the closet to grab a sweater for the morning chill. On his way to the farm he passes the boys’ cabin and decides to use the time that the rest of the house is asleep to have some time with Apollo, without Gwen becoming suspicious. 

He doesn’t want to wake the rest of the boys so he doesn’t knock, instead using his spare key to quietly enter the room. He walks up to Apollo and scoops him up out of the bed, hoping to properly wake him up once he’s outside and he wouldn’t wake his brothers. It doesn’t work though as Apollo wakes up and says “Hi Bwaykee” way too loud for a cabin with two other kids sound asleep. His brothers start to stir and he whispers a “Shhh” and leads Apollo to grab his shoes and sweater and leave the cabin.

“Bwaykee what happened? Why are we up so early? Do we have to go somewhere?” Blake took a moment to think about how cute it was that Apollo still called him Bwaykee, despite being able to pronounce his words properly. This little boy asked so many questions that Blake could never keep up, but Blake is still surprised to see that he’s somehow able to keep up that same energy at 6am in the morning when he’s half asleep.

“Well I’m on my way to check on the animals and I realized that you would probably like to see the chickens that King’s been raising?” That fully wakes him up, as he starts bouncing up and down with excitement.

“Yeah! I wanna see the chickens! Is King coming? Should I go wake him up?”

“I think it’s best if we let your brother sleep. But I think there’s a mama that laid an egg, do you wanna go see? I’ll race you to the barn.” With that, Apollo forgot all about being tired and about his brother and sprinted to the barn as fast as his little legs could carry him, with Blake jogging two steps behind him to make sure Apollo would get to celebrate the little victory.

When they get to the barn, Apollo calls out “First! Haha Bwayee I beat you!” And slows down to walk up to the chicken coop that Blake built with Kingston back in March. 

“Hey Bwaykee did you know that chickens are the most common bird on earth?”

“No I didn’t, that’s pretty cool. How do you know that?”

“We learned that at school! The second most common is the...um...the red beaked...um I forgot. But I have a funny chicken joke! Do you wanna hear it?” This kid hasn’t even been awake for ten minutes and he’s already cracking jokes and reciting facts, and Blake wonders how kids have all that energy. Then he thinks back to last night and realizes that if he was getting as much sleep as the kids and falling asleep at 9pm rather than staying up around the bonfire till 11 then staying up in bed till 12:30, maybe he’d have half that much energy. 

“Bwaykee why do chickens lay eggs?” What kind of a question is that? Blake stutters on his answer, trying to find a way around explaining reproduction to a sex year old, and Apollo interrupts his stuttering with “Because i they dropped them they would break!” and he breaks into the most adorable little laugh that Blake’s ever seen. That one tied with Gwen’s.

“That’s, that’s a good one. What do you say we calm down and check on these chickens shall we?”

Blake slowly opens the coop and picks up Apollo, so he can see inside too. 

After taking care of the chickens, Apollo asks to go see the horses, his favourite of all the animals on the farm. Blake lets him pet the horse for a bit, and while he’s busy grooming one of the horses he decides to start the conversation he woke Apollo up to have in the first place. This is another that’s made him nervous, because he doesn’t really know how much Apollo knows about proposals or marriage. 

“Hey ‘Pollo, do you know what it means when someone proposes to someone they love?”

“Nope! What’s that? Ooh that’s a big word, I wanna know!” At least his enthusiasm is there, BLake thinks, as he continues to carefully tread these waters.

“Well, when someone really loves their boyfriend or girlfriend, like how I really really love your momma, they propose to them. They ask ‘will you marry me’ and then if the other person says yes, they have a wedding.”

“Ohh okay,” Apollo seems to understand, “that’s cool! I think I saw it in a movie one time. So will you popose to mommy?”

“Propose, li’l fella, you missed an r. And well, I really want to, but I wanted to make sure you were okay with it first. I already asked your brothers, they seem to be on board.”

“On which board? And wait now I’m confused, I thought you said that you’re supposed to ask mommy, why do I have to say yes?”

“That’s just a thing people say. And well, if your momma says yes, then that means that we can get married and then I would be kind of your step-dad and your momma saying yes means that we promise forever together, that’s a big promise to make. I know your momma and she wouldn’t say yes unless all three of her angels are okay with me being around you guys forever.”

“Like forever and ever and ever? That’s so cool! Yes yes yes yes yes, but wait, can I have cheetos? I’m gonna say yes if I can have cheetos, and that’s a deal. Here,” Apollo says, all proud of himself, sticking out his tiny hand in front of him to shake. 

“Heck yes little cowboy of course you can have cheetos, I just hope your momma’s just as easy to convince to say yes for forever and ever.” With that, they start to head out of the barn, back toward the cabins.

Since Apollo refuses to go back to sleep and it’ll be another while before Gwen is up, Blake decides to go get those cheetos he promised Apollo. He sends a text on their family group chat with Gwen and the other boys, then grabs Apollo to go to the nearest gas station for some cheetos.

When he gets back half an hour later, everyone is still asleep so he lets Apollo play one of the million games on his phone while he makes himself coffee and scrolls through his email on his computer.

When his computer finally loads the 3589 unopened emails he has, he notices that one came through last night from the church, and he smiles to himself as he realizes that it’s the final paper that Gwen has been waiting for. Last night, he thought of the perfect way to propose and this paper completed the final piece to that puzzle. Well, this paper and some time with the kids, which he has yet to figure out how to get. If he wakes the rest of them up right now, they’ll wake up their momma and she wouldn’t be happy with that. Plus he wanted to get to cuddle some more with her in the morning when she wakes up, before being bombarded with kids. 

Deciding that that’s a problem for later, he opens the email and sends the document to the printer. On his way back from his office, he grabs a pencil for Apollo.

“Bwaykee can I get this game?” At this point Blake doesn’t even know why he asks since the answer’s always yes, the only thing is that he didn’t know that there even were more games to download. His whole phone’s already covered in those games. 

“Well buddy how about you get the game in a minute and first you help me out with this? Do you want to show off how you’ve been learning to write?”

“Yes yes yes can I show you? I can write almost anything now! Ooh what paper is that? Can I write my name on it? I learned how to make it look super cool.”

“Well hold up. I was hoping you could write a note for your momma, to help convince her to say yes to me when I propose to her, so that she knows that you already said yes.”

“Okay! Where should I write it?”

Once Apollo writes his note on the back of the paper, he folds it up and shoves it in his pocket, returning the pencil to his office and cleaning off the eraser shavings to clear his trace completely. Just as he’s finishing up, Jen walks in. 

“Morning Blake. Hey Apollo, what are you doing up so early huh?”

“Bwaykee took me to see King’s chickens! And then we fed all the other animals! And then I got cheetos, that was part of my deal with Bwaykee, I get cheetos and he gets a yes to popose to mommy.” This piques Jen’s curiosity as she turns to Blake with an amused face.

“You bribed the kid with cheetos? It’s barely 7:30, when did you even manage to get cheetos?”

“Well he was already saying yes but you know him, he sees an opportunity to get what he wants and he uses it. And come on, tell me you would say no to him asking for cheetos when you’re trying to get his okay to propose to his momma?”

“Okay yeah fine. Speaking of Gwen, is she up yet?”

“Actually uh, I just kind of took Apollo while the rest of ‘em slept. Since you’re up though, do you mind watching Apollo until Gwen’s up? I was hoping to go sleep some more, or at least go lie down before another crazy day starts.” As much as Blake tried to dance around it, Jen sees right through his lies but decides to let him have it since she’s going to be up anyway.

“You just want to snuggle up to Gwen for an extra hour,” she laughs, and by the time she’s done Blake is already at the door, shooting her a quick thank you and heading right back to his cabin for some morning kisses.

—————

After lunch, Todd and Jen agree to distract Gwen for an hour so he can have the kids. They’d normally go be on their ipads anyway so they shouldn’t be hard to find, but Gwen likes to check in on them from time to time and he needs to make sure she doesn’t see him holding a secret meeting with her sons in their cabin. 

Once everyone puts their dishes away after lunch, Jen sits on the couch and drags Gwen to watch some show, and Blake checks in with Todd before heading off to the boys’ cabin, checking that he’s got the paper still in his pocket. 

“Hey boys is it okay if I interrupt your tik tok time for a bit?”

“Yeah I mean this video’s gonna get scrapped anyway so I guess?” Zuma says, as his brother pulls his arm to tell him to stop being rude. 

“Yeah Blake, what’s up?” Kingston says, interrupting Zuma before he can say anything else that might sound mean.

“Well I already talked to each of you about proposing to your momma, and I think she should know that you guys are okay with it, when I ask her. Apollo already did it this morning, but I would seriously appreciate it if you guys could write a little note on here for her to read.”

“What’s this paper? And haha oh my god can I please fix Apollo’s spelling mistakes?”

“King remember you asked me about that paperwork? Well this is the last paper that your mom’s been waiting for, I’m going to give it to her with the ring. On the back maybe you guys could add something? And yeah sure have at it I guess.” Blake says, laughing at Kingston’s comment about his little brother’s writing.

“Can I go first? What should I write? Like, say yes? Please?”

“Yeah sure, whatever you feel like writing. I just really hope it’s not ‘Hey momma say no to Blake’ because that would be pretty embarrassing for me.” Both of the kids laugh with Blake, before taking turns to write their respective notes on the page and handing it back to Blake.

——————

While the coaches are still back in hair and makeup and can’t hear what’s going on on the stage, Carson starts to warm up the crowd and instructing them on how the show will go. 

“Okay so now that I’ve gotten through all the official stuff I have to say every time, we have something special happening on The Voice today. You guys know that this is the final blind audition, so teams are filling up. We’re going to send the country artists more in the first half, to try to fill up Blake’s team. Once his team is full, he’s gonna leave and miss –” Carson shows air quotes with his hands – “one of the auditions. John and Kelly were warned about this, but they’re going to act just as confused when we say that Blake is going to miss this one audition since his team is already full. What’s going to happen, is that Blake Shelton is going to do a surprise blind audition.” 

At this the crown briefly erupts in applause, before being motioned to quiet down by Carson so he can finish the instructions before the coaches start heading closer to the stage. “When Blake does the audition, John and Kelly aren’t going to press their buttons, but once Gwen presses her button we’ll turn all the chairs around. Now, Blake Shelton wants to propose to our other coach Gwen –”more applause from the audience – “okay calm down. For that audition, I’m gonna need all of you to be silent. Complete radio silence. No clapping, no cheering, we’re gonna try to capture just Gwen and Blake, let’s give them this moment right? Let’s try to have complete silence for the whole ‘audition’, and we can all clap for the two after Gwen, hopefully, says yes. And those non-disclosure agreements are in full effect, you guys know how much this means to them so let’s not try to ruin it. Knowing Gwen, she’ll document it and post it on her social media soon anyways, so you guys won’t have to hold the secret for too long.” 

Carson checks his phone and sees the text from a stage manager that the coaches are on their way — his cue to cover everything up and pretend nothing happened. “Our season 19 coaches are on their way to the stage right now, and please make sure we give them a big round of applause on their way in. First up, last season’s winning coach, leader of the country mafia, and the self-proclaimed king of the voice, Blake Shelton!” Carson announced, as Blake walked onto the stage.

——about an hour time skip——

“My team, is full!!” Blake shouts, as he walks off the stage with his final contestant.

As the cameras turn to follow Blake then pan back to the stage, Carson announces, “So, a new feat this season, is that once a coach completes their team they will go spend the next audition with their team, since they won’t be looking for any more contestants. They’ll be back in an audition, and to all of you watching at home you’ll get to see some of what they’re doing on your ad break. Coaches please return to your chairs and prepare for our next contestant.”

Hearing his cue, Blake checks that he’s got the ring and paper with him, and walks onto the stage. 

As the first 13 seconds of the tune play and the band gets the tune going, Blake fidgets with the mic, thinking about how being nervous on stage is something he hasn’t felt since their first time performing Go Ahead and Break My Heart, ironically on this same stage.

Gwen on the other hand, starts smiling because she’s almost certain it’s a Blake Shelton song and he just filled up his team so the other coaches would get a chance to fight for this country artist. 

Her smile grows even wider when the first verse comes on and the artist sounds so similar to Blake, except with an even stronger country accent — that is, until she stops. And freezes. No that voice isn’t similar, it’s exactly the same. Like, scary same. Gwen looks to the other coaches, who seem to not be noticing anything, and what? Is she crazy? Do they not notice?

_ I was gonna keep it real like chill like only have a drink or two _

_ But it turned into a party when I started talking to you _

“He totally sounds like Blake right?” She asks the other coaches, who don’t answer and just shrug. Gwen hovers her hand over her button, trying to stop herself from pressing on the first verse, because she just has to see who that is. 

_ Now you're standing in the neon looking like a high I wanna be on _

_ Baby it's your call _

_ No pressure at all _

This sounds so similar to Blake, but then again the guy is singing Blake’s song, so maybe they’re just a big fan? And they’re trying to replicate the artist they look up to?

_ You don't have to throw back your pretty pink lemonade shooter _

_ And lean a little closer _

_ You don't have to keep on smiling that smile that's driving me wild _

_ And when the night is almost over _

And how is it that John and Kelly aren’t hovering over their buttons? This guy sounds so awesome and, hot? Like really really like Blake? “Are you guys not going to press?” Gwen asks her fellow coaches, who seem to be too busy swaying to the song to hear her.

_ Meet me in the middle of a moonlit Chevy bench seat _

_ And do a little bit of country song, hanging on _

_ You don't have to keep me falling like this _

_ But it'd sure be cool if you did _

“No guys are you kidding? That guy’s awesome how are you not turning?” Gwen shouts to her other coaches, before pressing her button and turning around. She realizes she was partly right, in saying it sounded like her boyfriend, and yet she was frozen in place with the biggest smile on her face, watching her boy rock that stage. Though she was too busy staring to notice that John and Kelly had also turned around, but without a big button press so only her chair said “I want you”. ‘The I want you has never been more true’, Gwen thinks, as she keeps watching her boyfriend.

_ You can't shoot me down 'cause you've already knocked me dead _

_ Got me falling apart with my heart talking out of my head _

_ Let your mind take a little back road just as far as you wanna go _

_ Baby, I'll do _

_ Whatever you wanna do, wanna do _

_ You don't have to throw back your pretty pink lemonade shooter _

_ And lean a little closer _

_ You don't have to keep on smiling that smile that's driving me wild _

_ And when the night is almost over _

Little by little the band starts to quiet down and stop playing, until Blake’s voice is the only one that Gwen can hear. He slows down the rhythm of the song until he’s mostly talking, as he omits the rest of the song for 

_ “You don't have to say yes and promise me a lifetime,  _

_ say you’ll marry me, be here for all time girl,  _

_ But it'd sure be cool if you did.” _

Gwen walks up to Blake, still trying to process what’s happening, and decides to stall by asking, “Blakee what’s going on?” She turns more to the audience and to the chairs to say it, noticing that John and Kelly are smiling so they must have been in on this...whatever this is...too. 

When she turns back to Blake, she sees her man on one knee, with a ring in one hand and a paper extended in the other. Curious about the paper and using it as something to do because she’s been rendered speechless, she reads over the paper, recognizing exactly what it is. 

“Are you kidding me? You’ve had this paper all along and you hid it from me Blakee?”

“Well yeah I uh”

Gwen, realizing that Blake really is a shy goofball at the end of the day, decides to interrupt his rambling. “Hey um, is it okay if I ask my three trusted advisors about this? Um is my phone around here, I gotta call them.”

“Gwen they’re right there,” Blake says, pointing backstage to where her boys stand waving at her, “and sweetheart check the back of the paper”

“Woah Blake when did you manage to get this together? ‘mom says yes! please! You’re always so happy with Blake and I really want it to stay that way’. King. Blake am I supposed to get through these without crying? Okay wait, ‘momma please say yes!’ Zumzum. And ‘mommy i want blakee,” Gwen pauses, trying to decipher her son’s handwriting, “for 4ever and ever and ever and ever. please.’ Pollo. Oh my god is that you and King correcting ‘Pollo’s spelling? You guys are so funny” Turning more to the audience, Gwen adds, “WHAT! Can you guys believe this?”

Blake finally feels like air returned to his brain after the shock of really, finally, being in the situation he’s in, so he starts the speech that he’s edited about four thousand times just today: “Gwen I asked you boys first because I know that’s important to you. And I made sure your parents and siblings were okay with it too, and Jen said I’d be stupid if I didn’t take this opposrtunity that God’s giving me. I love you , you know that, but I want to make sure that you know that and hear that for the rest of your life, and I’d be really really honoured if you’d give me the chance to let me show you just how much I love you, for the rest of your life.”

When Blake finishes the speech, Gwen and Blake hear a little “Heyy how come no one told me I made a spelling mistake, no fair!” from backstage, which makes them both laugh and helps lighten the crazy vibe on the stage. “Gwen, you know I love your adorable laugh but you haven’t actually given me an answer and I might break my knee if I sit here waiting any longer.”

Gwen chuckles another time before pulling Blake up. “Come on cowboy of course it’s a yes, now get up silly so I can kiss your gorgeous face off,” and with that she jumps onto Blake to bring her ankles around his waist and kiss him. 

After about a few seconds of kissing, they both hear Carson clear his throat somewhere behind them, and become aware that they’re literally making out in front of thousands of people. 

“oh right, forgot y’all were here. Well uh, y’all, she said yes!” Blake manages to say, still recovering from what happened and slowly putting Gwen back down onto her feet. Once he puts her back down and realizes what he just said, he walks up to the front of the stage with her hand in his and shouts, “Gwen Renee freaking Stefani, said yes!!!”

Backstage, during the break that Carson calls so that they can pop a bottle of champagne before returning to taping, Gwen walks straight up to Blake and whispers in his ear, making sure that no one can hear, “Rings are cool, and this one that you got inscribed on the inside with a cross and our initials is especially cool, but Blakee do I get a present later, like at home? In bed maybe?” 

Blake kisses her in the biggest failed attempt to hide how flustered he is, and whispers back into her ear, “of course you do babygirl. Too bad you’ll have to wait until everyone’s well asleep to enjoy it, because you won’t be able to stay quiet for this one.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that was worth the wait! Thank you so much for reading and please leave a comment, comments make me so happy. And if you have a prompt/request, leave it below! I'm actually trying to decide what to write next, so if there's something you guys would want to read more of then let me know.
> 
> Love y'all always and see you whenever the next chapter happens, Maftuna.


	5. Author’s note (again?)

Hi! I’m gonna have two weeks of legally mandatory quarantine with pretty much nothing to do, so i’ll try to write a bit. right now i’m in this mood called “i want to write but i don’t know what to write”. i’m seeing a bunch of short prompts which i might follow through with, but I don’t really know. and recently i’ve been reading way more, and trying to learn how to improve my writing style, which is another reason that I know i really gotta start writing more, if i want to improve at all. But um all that to say, if you guys have any prompts, be it a long story or just a quote, that you want me to write, please drop them in the comments! and if you have any feedback about my writing, i would appreciate that too. Rn I’m not working on writing anything, so any prompt I’m given, I’ll likely start writing right away (no promises on when it’ll be out tho?)


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